Most helpful positive review

This is our second Lionel Train set (our first dates back to 1997 -The Santa Fe set, from back when these things still said "Made in America")

Some of the differences are notable:

The Engine is very nice, similar to our Santa Fe engine - all metal, heavy in the hands - feels very solid (which is why you get an O-gauge set in the first place in my opinion - This is probably the first electric toy a kid will get that (if properly cared for) will last long enough to be passed down to their kids - Wheel configuration is 0-8-0, meaning no front or back guide wheels, just 8 powered wheels in the center. As a plus it has someone driving the train inside! and another odd-plus is a working-coupler in the front (you kids who watched "Thomas The Tank Engine" on TV will know what to do with this part!)

The Coal-Car has the same whistle mechanism as our much louder Santa-Fe, and it sounds when you hit the whistle button on the controller and, yes it does whistle, but at a low, kind of far-away tone.

There is a 3-dome tanker car - again, nice feel to it - looks really great with authentic looking markings and steel wire wrap-around -seems very solid.

Caboose - More solid than our older caboose, with a better light/connecting wheel beneath - stays lit with a steady light as it goes around the track.

The Track: FasTrack is almost a revelation for people who were used to the older 0-27 and 0-36 all metal track. Note: It does take some considerable force to connect it, so your kids might need some help with this part. On the plus side it works great on floors and carpets and it looks authentic with a gravel track-bed. On the minus side, it is a bit harder to connect and I found it to be noisier than our other 100+ year old track design (O-36 - the number means the size of the circle in inches that you can make when only using the round sections.

Also note - You may want to consider ordering some extra track sections. This set doesn't come with an X-Cross-over and only has 4 total straight sections (1 is the powered FasTrack terminal section) - Amazon and affiliates have it for $6.75 + tax and/or s/h per section, but 2 of our local hobby shops in Queens have them for $4 each (TIP: Shop locally for the tracks!) - The included sections only allow for a rather small 40" x 60" layout, which might not be enough to make it around the Christmas tree AND accommodate presents.

Nice touches: 1 billboard and 10 telephone poles (TIP: use Fun-tak to adhere these to the floor for non-permanent Christmas-tree type setups or they will be falling down all over the place)

0.5 Fl Oz of smoke fluid is included. (Hobby shops have a big 4-6 oz bottle for about $6 each when this runs dry) - go very light on this stuff as it can flood the engine - Use 1-4 drops at a time.

The controller is where this set really comes together - It feels much better than the older one and the connections are very high quality. The train can run at full speed (which would cause a de-railment on our older set) which will is certain to delight young and old alike.

One bummer - the button on the controller for the bell needs an extra car with a bell function in order to work. (Mommy, Daddy, can we get one? Please!?)

Also: Our older set had more extras (and it also cost more) like a working log roller, button-operated de-coupler, and a working crossing gate. These things and others can be added to this set, but again, for the money ($137 as of mid-Dec. 2011) this is a *realy* good deal.

So to sum up: Excellent build quality, high speed fun with nice touches for a bargain price. Some adult help to assemble is advised (go easy on that smoke fluid! -tell 'em only 2-4 drops per hour) - Get More track - as 40"x60" sounds big but is pretty small for a train of this caliber - from a local hobby shop @ $4 per/track (and maybe an accessory or two) -and you will make this a full 5-star experience!

Most helpful critical review

Wanted to get a train the family could enjoy. The Pennsylvania Flyer is a good set. The train cars are sweet and the kids love the lights on the engine and caboose. We wish the whistle was a tad louder as the train is a bit noisey. (At least it seems noisier than the Lionel I grew up with.) I would rate the product a four however I downgraded to a three as the first train we received arrived with a car that had a broken hitch. I packed it up, returned it and Amazon quickly sent a replacement. Being concerned about the cars, I inspected those right away. We set up the second system but since the smoke didn't work well on the first set, we chose not to fool with it for a few weeks after receiving the replacement train. When we put the liquid smoke in the train is when we noticed we didn't receive the correct transformer. (The one we have now has 3 buttons: direction, whistle and bell...no smoke button) Rather than having to return it again, we chose to keep it without the smoke.The tracks do take some adult assistance to snap together and the train car that appears green in all the pics is really a very dark green almost black. All in all, the family loves the train. We are looking forward to building around it.

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This is our second Lionel Train set (our first dates back to 1997 -The Santa Fe set, from back when these things still said "Made in America")

Some of the differences are notable:

The Engine is very nice, similar to our Santa Fe engine - all metal, heavy in the hands - feels very solid (which is why you get an O-gauge set in the first place in my opinion - This is probably the first electric toy a kid will get that (if properly cared for) will last long enough to be passed down to their kids - Wheel configuration is 0-8-0, meaning no front or back guide wheels, just 8 powered wheels in the center. As a plus it has someone driving the train inside! and another odd-plus is a working-coupler in the front (you kids who watched "Thomas The Tank Engine" on TV will know what to do with this part!)

The Coal-Car has the same whistle mechanism as our much louder Santa-Fe, and it sounds when you hit the whistle button on the controller and, yes it does whistle, but at a low, kind of far-away tone.

There is a 3-dome tanker car - again, nice feel to it - looks really great with authentic looking markings and steel wire wrap-around -seems very solid.

Caboose - More solid than our older caboose, with a better light/connecting wheel beneath - stays lit with a steady light as it goes around the track.

The Track: FasTrack is almost a revelation for people who were used to the older 0-27 and 0-36 all metal track. Note: It does take some considerable force to connect it, so your kids might need some help with this part. On the plus side it works great on floors and carpets and it looks authentic with a gravel track-bed. On the minus side, it is a bit harder to connect and I found it to be noisier than our other 100+ year old track design (O-36 - the number means the size of the circle in inches that you can make when only using the round sections.

Also note - You may want to consider ordering some extra track sections. This set doesn't come with an X-Cross-over and only has 4 total straight sections (1 is the powered FasTrack terminal section) - Amazon and affiliates have it for $6.75 + tax and/or s/h per section, but 2 of our local hobby shops in Queens have them for $4 each (TIP: Shop locally for the tracks!) - The included sections only allow for a rather small 40" x 60" layout, which might not be enough to make it around the Christmas tree AND accommodate presents.

Nice touches: 1 billboard and 10 telephone poles (TIP: use Fun-tak to adhere these to the floor for non-permanent Christmas-tree type setups or they will be falling down all over the place)

0.5 Fl Oz of smoke fluid is included. (Hobby shops have a big 4-6 oz bottle for about $6 each when this runs dry) - go very light on this stuff as it can flood the engine - Use 1-4 drops at a time.

The controller is where this set really comes together - It feels much better than the older one and the connections are very high quality. The train can run at full speed (which would cause a de-railment on our older set) which will is certain to delight young and old alike.

One bummer - the button on the controller for the bell needs an extra car with a bell function in order to work. (Mommy, Daddy, can we get one? Please!?)

Also: Our older set had more extras (and it also cost more) like a working log roller, button-operated de-coupler, and a working crossing gate. These things and others can be added to this set, but again, for the money ($137 as of mid-Dec. 2011) this is a *realy* good deal.

So to sum up: Excellent build quality, high speed fun with nice touches for a bargain price. Some adult help to assemble is advised (go easy on that smoke fluid! -tell 'em only 2-4 drops per hour) - Get More track - as 40"x60" sounds big but is pretty small for a train of this caliber - from a local hobby shop @ $4 per/track (and maybe an accessory or two) -and you will make this a full 5-star experience!

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I bought this as an identical replacement for one that my oldest brother gave to me when I was 4 and very sick. Now that he is terminally sick, I wanted to give back to him the same hope he gave me by giving me his train. This train is identical to the one he gave to me 46 years ago except with some technology changes. It has lifted his spirits and he has a new viewpoint towards his illness! He's not giving up like he once was. What more can a product do but give back hope to someone who is very ill. Thanks!

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This is a great train set. The engine is heavy and the cars are pretty durable. The engine smokes as it runs. My toddlers love operating the train. My two yr old learned to operate the controller though he only understands the fastest setting (sigh). The tracks stay together and are very durable. This train is great for "under the Christmas tree" and everyday use. The set is described as with an "air whistle" and the controller has a button for the whistle, however, either the whistle does not work or the train does not have one. Still a great set!

Update Dec 8, 2012:Brought this set out of the attic and setup under my Christmas tree for this year. NO glitches, NO hassles, and this time, the whistle worked... I really like this set! I mean, my toddlers really love the set. Ordered more tracks, again. This time because this train is going around a 12' Christmas tree...

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I bought this as an early Christmas gift for the kids. Amazon (as always) delivered it very quickly and in great, although slightly excessive, packaging. This "Pennsylvania" Lionel set has some good qualities, and some bad:

The Good:1. The locomotive is solidly built and heavy. It feels like it is well-made. It also runs smoothly and the headlight is bright.2. The FasTrack system is really nice. I'm sure some Lionel groupies hate the system for its excessive use of plastic, but...it's easy to snap together, it stays together, and it makes it very easy to setup a track quickly.3. The caboose is pretty nice. It has a nice bright light and it doesn't feel cheap.

The Bad:1. The whistle did not work at all. At first, I couldn't hear anything over the noise of the train going around the track (see #2 below), but then I took the engine off and just heard a slight electrical hum when I pressed and held the whistle button on the controller. The whistle is in the tender car, and the one I got is defective. Rather than deal with the hassle of returning the whole set, I took the tender apart and found the problem - poor design and poor assembly. There is a small motor that spins a 4-blade encapsulated fan that then throws air out of a small slot and makes the characteristic train whistle sound. In my case, the motor couldn't spin because the fan was attached too far down the motor shaft, so it was rubbing the square plastic piece that separated the motor from the fan. I tried to pull off the fan, but it was on there nice and tight. I noticed that that square plastic piece was actually slightly bent - there are two screws and nuts that hold it tight against the whistle chamber, and one of the screws, when tightened down, bows the plastic a bit making the rubbing against the fan blade that much worse. The other screen doesn't have that problem as it applies pressure to another plastic surface. So, I re-assembled it and just didn't tighten that first screw all the way. It had enough pressure to keep the nut from spinning. After putting it all back together, I can still hear the fan rubbing the plastic for the first few seconds as it spins up, but then the noise stops and the whistle sound emerges.1b. The whistle is really quiet (don't know if it's because mine was "fixed" or if that's another issue with this flawed design).2. The train and cars are really loud. I haven't isolated which ones make the most noise, but it is a lot louder than I expected.3. This is a small thing, but the box and listing clearly says "2-sided Billboard", but the billboard included is only 1-sided. The other side is blank. This doesn't matter to me, but I'm not sure why they had to change that.4. The cord from the track to the controller is really short - maybe about 2 feet. I guess I was expecting it to be about 6 feet long.

Also, as others have noted, the box car in this set is black and not green as the listing shows.

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I received the Penn Flyer Lionel Trainset on Tuesday December 6, 2011. Good early impression of the train. Trainset was purchased to go under the christmas tree. The engine feels real solid and the cars seem fine. The coupling mechanism are plastic though and seem that they could be a bit more fragile that I would have thought. There is no bell on this trainset but there is a horn. So far so good.

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Couldn't be happier, the set is highly detailed and everything worked out of the box. I posted a set of photos of the unboxing, each part of the set, and finally, the whole thing assembled around the tree. Check them out in the customer photos, it should give you a better idea of what is in the box. My set is currently on carpet and the Fast Track is fairly loud when the train is running. Not so loud that you can't hear the whistle. Haven't tried the smoke yet, but I will soon. Family and friends have purchased the Eastern Expansion Set along with more track and another terminal track section for me for Christmas, including a switch and a earthen track bumper, so next year I am planning on building a layout platform that I can store vertically in the garage. They also got me a few Plasticville USA O Scale buildings/houses, so I am well on my way to a complete layout. I look forward to setting everything up each December with my two kids! Tradition!

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Wanted to get a train the family could enjoy. The Pennsylvania Flyer is a good set. The train cars are sweet and the kids love the lights on the engine and caboose. We wish the whistle was a tad louder as the train is a bit noisey. (At least it seems noisier than the Lionel I grew up with.) I would rate the product a four however I downgraded to a three as the first train we received arrived with a car that had a broken hitch. I packed it up, returned it and Amazon quickly sent a replacement. Being concerned about the cars, I inspected those right away. We set up the second system but since the smoke didn't work well on the first set, we chose not to fool with it for a few weeks after receiving the replacement train. When we put the liquid smoke in the train is when we noticed we didn't receive the correct transformer. (The one we have now has 3 buttons: direction, whistle and bell...no smoke button) Rather than having to return it again, we chose to keep it without the smoke.The tracks do take some adult assistance to snap together and the train car that appears green in all the pics is really a very dark green almost black. All in all, the family loves the train. We are looking forward to building around it.

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As other reviewers have noted, the "smoke" part does not work and the horn and bell are very quiet especially with the train running. It stays on the tracks great and is very nice looking, but it is very loud. Even when it is running on a slow speed it is still loud. The train slows down significantly when it goes around the curves, so when it's on a low speed it will eventually stop running. But the headlight and the train cars all work perfectly and I can see this train lasting for many years.